Vesta's coat of many colours

A 3D model of the asteroid Vesta that also
reveals its topography has been created from data captured by
Nasa's Dawn spacecraft which is still in orbit around the small rocky world.

The animation begins overlooking Vesta's north pole and
gradually moves southward. The colours chosen show differences in
the surface composition and a detailed view of the material
properties of the asteroid. The green colour shows the abundance of
iron. Vesta has an iron core with a diameter of around 220
kilometres and is believed to have formed in the same way as the
other inner rocky planets.

Visible on the animation are the "snowman" craters Marcia,
Calpurnia and Minucia just north of the Vestan equator. Next you
can see a band of equatorial troughs and Vesta's heavily cratered
surface. As the viewing angle moves towards the southern pole, the
large central complex protrudes from the massive Rheasilvia impact
basin. The Rheasilvia impact basin has a strong greenish appearance
signifying a region abundant in iron.

The 3D model was built from images taken in September and
October 2011 by Dawn's framing camera at an average distance to the
surface of 680 kilometers. The images have an average resolution of
about 65 metres per pixel. Further images are to be taken of
Vesta's northern hemisphere to enhance the map.

The colour composite mosaic was prepared by the German Aerospace
Center. The animation and the topographic model were made by the
Planetary Science Institute.

Launched in 2007, Dawn's mission is to study Vesta and the dwarf
planet Ceres with the aim of improving our understanding of the
evolution of the early Solar System. Vesta was chosen as an example
of a rocky world in the inner Solar System whilst Ceres was chosen
as an example of an icy body in the outer Solar System.

Dawn is due to depart Vesta on 26 August, as it heads off to
study its next target, the dwarf planet Ceres. Ceres was chosen as
a very different world to rocky Vesta as it formed much further
away from the Sun. Ceres appears to have similarities to the large
icy moons of the outer Solar System. Dawn will arrive at Ceres in
2015.

The Dawn mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
a division of the California Institute of Technology.

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